A chat with the producer of the mysterious Albany movie
On location for Sister Spirit.
OK, so as it turns out, the current working title of the movie currently filming in Albany is, in fact Sister Spirit -- though you'll have more luck finding info online searching for Ass Backwards, the original title.
Molly Conners, a Capital District native is one of the producers of Sister Spirit (she also co-produced the Oscar-nominated Frozen River, filmed in Plattsburgh, starring Melissa Leo). Conners took a few minutes from the set today to answer what she could about the movie, working in Albany, and yesterday's unfortunate Hamilton Street towing incident.
OK, lets start with the towing. Conners says she and the film crew felt really badly about the whole thing. They paid to have the "No Parking" signs put up, but they expected they would have gone up sooner.
"We were actually begging people not to tow the cars. We worked with the Albany police, and they've been great. They've agreed to reimburse the four people who were towed, and to rescind any tickets. So anyone who was towed should definitely let them know."
Conners is still contractually obligated to keep the lid on the casting for Sister Spirit, (according to IMDB the cast includes Alicia Silverstone, Jason Ritter, Amy Sedaris and Melissa Leo -- and there are rumors about Kate Hudson), but she describes the film as "kind of a female Dumb and Dumber -- two 20something girls living in New York City, feeding their own delusions."
They'll be filming in Albany for one more week, then they'll shoot the rest of the film in
New York City and Los Angeles.
So why have things with this production been so hush-hush compared to Salt, The Other Guys, and some of the other films made in the Capital Region?
"Those are studio films with much bigger budgets," says Conners. With a really low budget film, she says they have to get through it as quickly and inexpensively as possible, which means trying to avoid distractions.
She says it's been great working in Albany and that being from the area (she grew up in Loudonville) she really likes working here.
"In New York [City] someone is making a movie on every corner. Here you have more locations open to you and people are really nice and helpful. I'd like to encourage people to make more films in the Capital District."
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Comments
That's awesome to hear that people who got towed will be reimbursed. Getting towed is a huge pain in the butt. You gotta bum a ride with a friend or catch a cab or whatever, first to the police station on upper Central Ave, and *then* to whichever lot -- usually outside city limits -- your car was put in. Typical bureaucratic nightmare. Hopefully cab fares are being reimbursed too.
I'm glad to hear these folks are sympathetic about it. I'm probably not the right demographic for a female Dumb and Dumber, but right now AOA is showing me Netflix ads, so I can at least put the film on my Netflix queue when it comes out. :D
... said Ed on Aug 4, 2010 at 5:02 PM | link
Good to see you guys at AOA followed up on my comment from yesterday pointing out Molly's local connection to this film.
... said anonymous on Aug 4, 2010 at 6:06 PM | link
Uh, Frozen River wasn't shot in Plattsburgh. If it was, it wasn't much of it --most of it was shot in and around Massena, NY.
... said AJ on Aug 5, 2010 at 1:44 AM | link